A Look at SNICK

With SNICK recently turning 21 this weekend I thought it would be a good idea
to talk about it. First a little background to get familiar with the
block.

SNICK short for Saturday Night Nickelodeon started
August 15th 1992 and ended on August 28th 2004. It was a block that
broadcasted shows like Clarissa Explains it all, Ren and Stimpy, All
That and many more through out the years between 8pm and 10pm (With a
temporary expansion to 10:30PM in the summer of 1998). In 1999 SNICK got
a revamp with a new Name SNICK House It resembled more of a MTV show
with Celebrities or Musical Guests coming on the air. Each week kids
would be able to pick a music video that would be shown during the
block. In June 2001 SNICK house was canceled and from July 7th 2001 to
January 12th 2002 as well from June 29th 2002 to September 7th 2002
there would be 90 minute specials called Nick Flicks followed by the
Nickelodeon show The Brothers Garcia. On January 19th 2002 SNICK came
back with a new line up. In September 2002 there was a new segment to
SNICK called The On - Air Dare where One of Three cast members on the
block would be doing a dare that usually involved doing something
embarrassing such as being covered in peanut butter and being licked by
dogs, bobbing for apples in a toilet (Not used of course) just to name a
couple of them. SNICK ended in August after it's "Summer Vacation"
Special through out the summer of 2004. The bumpers changed and instead
of saying "SNICK" The announcer said "Saturday Night Nick" which soon
was phased out for TEENick Saturday Night which lasted until 2009 when
TEENick was dropped from the main channel and was used to replace The N
on Premium cable.

My thoughts on it would depend on what
revamp you're talking about. As it stands the original run from 1992 -
1999 is my top favorite. The reason is it knew what it was a block of
shows and went with that with a few shorts called Snick Snacks. It was
also self contained and kept it's bumpers to itself. In speaking of the
SNICK bumpers. The bumpers varied through out the 1992- 1999 run.
However one thing stayed the same. That is the Orange Couch. It is the
Icon of SNICK and whenever SNICK is mentioned The Orange Couch is
usually the first thing to be mentioned. In 1999 it was retired and then
stuffed with $25,000 and 6,000 cookies and given away as a prize for
Nickelodeon's 20th anniversary.

The quality of the block
fell after each revamp which made it more like a show with the actual
shows being made to sound like shorts then they were shows. The
exception was in 2002 when the bumpers were just stills of actors with
text bubbles. However after that it stopped being as good with the
bumpers being more of a show segment then it was being a actual block
for shows. That's not to say a block of shows can't have a host which
SNICK has gone through a lot. However they usually were from Nickelodeon
Shows most of the time. An example is Toonami on Cartoon Network. T.O.M
hosts the block. However he doesn't get in the way of the shows. He's
usually there to lead into Ads and the intro and the block's ending
bumper with a game review and speech here and there and a story every
couple years or so. The revamps of SNICK had the bumpers feel like they
are trying to take away from the shows and focus more on them.

The
lineup of shows varied from year to year. Though it was more geared for
their live shows with an animated show or Two as mentioned before there
were shorts in between shows called SNICK Snacks.

Overall
is SNICK a bad block? No. However it has seen better days and it was a
shame to see it end. However The 90's Are All That is doing a
SNICK-iversary to celebrate SNICK's 21st Anniversary. Which will show
the original line up of the Block from 1992 (With the exception of
Roundhouse being replaced by All That). I highly recommend you support
this block especially when it does something like this. So until next time

@Vaporman87: The Big Orange Couch was given away in a contest with $20,000 dollars in the cushions. The manager of the Sony studio in LA went to grad school with me two years ago and told me that her friends won it when I mentioned I studied nostalgia. It resides in an apartment in Salinas, California.

I watched the SNICK-iversary last month that aired during The 90s Are All That. It was a really nice tribute to SNICK that included some of the original 1992 bumpers. It was just too bad they couldn't include Roundhouse.

I have to agree with your choice of the block's lineup. While many shows that aired during the 92 to 99 time frame werent realy my cup of tea, the quality of the block itself just seemed higher.

And I like some stability and repetition in the bumpers, theme, etc. It helps increase the connection with the audience. Similar to the ABC Bumpers, or the Nick Jr. Moose A Moose segments. They give a feeling of familiarity and nostalgia in some cases.